Way Downstream

In Annapolis, two pieces of legislation have emerged seeking to exempt owners of septic systems from the state flush tax. While favored by some rural Marylanders, the bill is drawing many critics who argue that it would be unfair to let some people opt out of the landmark legislation designed to stem the flow of sewage into the Chesapeake …

In Owings, the National Wildlife Federation has named its newest Wildlife Habitat site. The Calvert County community joins some 58,000 home and business habitats nationwide — ranging from urban balconies to thousand-acre lots — in planting foliage for wildlife and refraining from using fertilizers. To become an official Wildlife Habitat, homes or businesses must provide the five basic elements for wildlife: food such as a berry bush; a water source like a birdbath; cover such as shrubs; a place to raise young, like a host plant for caterpillars; and a landscape sustained by native plants …

On the Eastern Shore, opposition is exploding as the Cambridge City Council prepares to vote Feb. 27 on a 3,200-home development, hotel and golf course that could imperil nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Critics — including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which rarely enters development disputes — testified in front of the General Assembly last week that the mini-city makes a mockery of Maryland’s smart-growth goals. The Critical Areas Commission takes up the plan next …

In Virginia, state biologists are planning a fateful assault on an invader of consequence — zebra mussels. Why are they worried? In the 18 years since the bedeviling shellfish arrived in the United States in the ballast water of a ship, they have spread like a raging blaze, clogging intake and outflow pipes and fouling equipment with colonies that can grow to hundreds of thousands per square yard …

Our Creature Feature comes from Britain, where police last weekend put out an all-points bulletin for fugitives that shouldn’t be too difficult to find: a herd of water buffalo.

Six of the imposing creatures, which weigh more than a ton, went missing from a Hampshire breeding farm, and police were mystified about whether they escaped or were somehow stolen. “The water buffalo are large, black animals with horns. If they are wandering in the forest, they will look obviously out of place,” a police constable told Reuters. He added that it could be a mistake to approach them from behind because they are known to spray dung a considerable distance.